In the moments and games and series when Igor Shesterkin needed to carry the Rangers, both this season and throughout the early portion of his NHL career, the goaltender found a way to do just that.
His blocker save against Andrei Svechnikov to preserve the Rangers’ lead in Game 6 against the Hurricanes. The “monster” stops, as Peter Laviolette called them, to help the Blueshirts advance. The countless others that have led to “I-GOR” chants ringing through the Garden.
Shesterkin won at least 36 games this season for the third consecutive time. He completely reversed the career-worst trajectory he brought into the All-Star break and finished with a .912 save percentage. There are plenty of reasons the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers will open the Eastern Conference Final on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) at the Garden, and Shesterkin, at 28 years old, remains one of the most pivotal.
And in the moments and games and series when Sergei Bobrovsky needed to carry the Panthers, he flashed the form that helped the 35-year-old win two Vezina Trophies. He’s at a different stage of his career from Shesterkin. This is his third team. Who knows how many more NHL seasons Bobrovsky will string together before retiring, how many stabs he’ll get to win the Stanley Cup? His 36-17-4 record with a .915 save percentage ensured there would be another one this year.
